Geuns, van, family

Van Geuns is a Dutch Mennonite family, whose ancestors were apparently as follows:

(1) Steven Freriks (or Fredriks), a landowner, b. 1625 at Holwierde, Dutch province of Groningen, who about 1657 moved to Dyckhusen near Neustadt-Goedens in East Friesland, Germany. Here he married Lysabeth Dircksdochter, from Pilsum, East Friesland, and died in 1679. One of his sons was (2) Jan Steevens, b. in Dyckhusen 1660 and d. in Neustadt-Goedens 1716. He was a landowner and a businessman and a deacon of the Old Flemish congregation. He was married to Gepke Lubberts Cremer of an old Mennonite family (see Cremer family). One of his sons was (3) Elder <em>Lubbert Jans Cremer</em>, who adopted his mother's family name, as was then very commonly done both in Friesland and East Friesland.

(4) Steeven Jans Cremer, another son of Jan Steevens, b. 1696 at Neustadt-Goedens, migrated about 1740 to Groningen in the Netherlands. He was a cloth merchant and rather well-to-do. He seems to have loosened his ties with die Old Flemish Mennonite congregation, because he played an important role among the Collegiants in Groningen, being their leader for a number of years. This Steeven Jans called himself S. J. van Geuns, i.e., from (Neustadt) Goedens and this became the family name. He was married first to Dieuwertje Roos of Groningen and then to Dieuwertje Alringh of Leer. He died in 1737.

One of his sons was (5) <em>Matthias</em> (Matthijs) <em>van Geuns</em> (1735-1817), a medical professor at Harderwijk and Utrecht. This Matthias had a number of children; one of them was (6) Steven Jan van Geuns (1767-1795), who was a medical professor at the University of Utrecht at the same time as his father (N.N.B.Wb. I, 933); other sons of Matthias were (7) <em>Jan</em>, a Mennonite minister, and (8), Jacob (1769-1834), first a physician at Groningen, then the founder of a bank in Amsterdam.

A son of Stevens Jans (4) was (9) Jan Stevens (1722-1780), an iron dealer in Groningen, warmly interested in his home church (Inv. Arch. Amst. I, No. 677), father of the Mennonite minister (10) <em>Matthias van Geuns</em> and grandfather of (11) <em>Cornelis Sytze van Geuns</em> and (12) <em>Bartel van Geuns</em>, and great-grandfather of (13) <em>Matthias C. van Geuns</em>, all three Mennonite ministers. A large number of members of this family were noted physicians, lawyers, and businessmen. Mention should be made of (14) Jan van Geuns, medical professor at the University of Amsterdam, (15) Matthias van Geuns (1802-?), director of the Associatie Kassa at Amsterdam, (16) Albert van Geuns (1806-1879), founder of the Banking Company Luden en van Geuns at Amsterdam, all three sons of Jacob van Geuns (8); (17) Jan van Geuns, son of Pastor Matthias van Geuns (10) (1799-1865), at first apothecary at Amsterdam, whose daughter Margaretha was married to Pastor Adriaan Loosjes. This Jan van Geuns founded the first rubber factory in the Netherlands at Haarlem about 1828 (N.N.B.Wb. IV, 650); (18) lsak Matthias van Geuns (1772-1804), son of Matthias van Geuns (5), studied law and afterward entered diplomatic service (N.N.B.Wb. IV, 648); (19) Jacob van Geuns (1847-1909), son of Jan van Geuns (14), physician at Amsterdam, one of the first scholars to study the medical questions connected with life insurance (N.N.B.Wb. IV, 649). Many of his descendants emigrated to the United States at the end of the 19th century; (20) Steven Jan Matthijs van Geuns (1795-1849), son of Steven Jan van Geuns (6), was a lawyer at Utrecht and a member of the city council and of the provincial States of Utrecht.